Reflection

ESP 621 has open my mind and gives me a new understanding when it comes to assessment. I have been working with children on the spectrum for about six years now but I was not aware there are different kind of assessment.  Teachers tend to realize only on standardize test when most of the kids don't demonstrate what they learn in test. There should be other method involve to accommodate everyone on  the spectrum.  I definitely agree that anyone who has contact with the child should have a role when the child is being assess. Also it is important for parents to be involve in the process because the child might exhibit a behavior at home and the people at school have not experience.  I learned a lot from doing the wiki with my teammates. It allows me to think outside the box and be creative. I feel like many parents are lost and they don't know where to look for help.  Since my wiki was about group home the recreation section was important.  Many times parent take his or her child home but he does not know where to take that child for something fun.   If he was to come across that particular  wiki he will have an idea on where to take the child.  Now that I have a better understanding about assessment I feel confident to give my opinion at my work place.  I am so glad I took that class because it was definitely an eye opener. The reading and assignment pushed me to think beyond the class.  I also liked the idea of discussing the reading before class, if something did not make sense to me I would get clarification during class. It was a good idea to start out the program with this class because now I have a better understanding of assessment and I will be using the tools as I go forward in my career.

Final Reflection

This class was very useful and informative in my pursuit towards a BCBA. It gave me a well rounded view on assessments as well as the Theory of Mind. As a behavior therapist I do perform assessments however I never had the chance to look at assessments from the point of view of an educational team. As a behaviorist "theory of mind" is one of those things most would question because of its implications on the mind. But after learning and discussing it I can see how some would feel that it is an important area that needs some attention. I also enjoyed creating the Wiki. The Wiki I helped create will be an amazing tool for others who work as home based therapists. The contents of this class will assist me throughout my career. Thanks Professor Lynch!!

reflection

ESP 621 has helped me a lot in learning more about assessments and the assessment process when working with children with autism.  I have been in the field for a few years now and hear about all the different assessments that can be given to children, but I never understood or had a chance to learn the specifics of the assessments.  The assessment process it a continuous process when working with children and even in the beginning when with a child to determine what the strengths and weaknesses are and what the best approaches might be to help the individual child.  I learned a lot when discussing the topics of possible duel diagnoses, I did not realize the close similarities that some disorders/conditions have and it helps me in looking at behaviors more specifically and in more detail.  I learned a lot when developing the Wikki, I really have never heard of them until this class and I enjoyed developing one, especially in helping people in the workplace keep in contact and have the opportunity to ask questions and continue learning about the field.  This class has been very enjoyable and I will continue to apply what I have learned to my future and in my career.

Reflection

More than anything, this class has taught me how much actually goes into an assessment.  Assessments are not just the standardized tests that we are required to give from year to year.  When I first thought of this class, I assumed we would simply focus on the many standardized assessments used with the ASD population.  Instead, we spent a great deal of time talking about the actual process of assessment and what goes into it.  I found this much more helpful as I could easily relate it to my experience and it felt like a much more holistic approach.  Assessments should be comprehensive and address the whole child; while standardized tools can be helpful in some sense, they should not be relied on completely.  Instead, assessments should include observations, data collection, portfolios, etc.  The process of completing an assessment should also include a wide variety of team members who are constantly communicating and sharing information to help put together an accurate picture of a child.  This I will certainly remember in my daily practice.

In terms of assignments, I found the wiki particularly helpful.  It is an excellent tool to use, especially in this day and age.  I particularly liked how interactive it could be.  For me, it came at a very appropriate time as I have struggled with my parent population this year and needed to find a way to address these issues.  Not only did I find learning how to actually use a wiki beneficial, but researching inclusionary classrooms and all of the benefits of inclusion re-affirmed how I felt and gave me solid content to relay back to my parent population.  I will certainly be using this from year to year.

Overall, I feel that ESP 621 has opened my mind a bit more to assessment and all that is involved.

Final Review

I am very pleased to write that the ESP 621 course has taught me a great deal about assessment, including the amount of detail that is involved with assessing an individual. As I began this course I was inexperienced with assessments.  However, as a result of ESP 621, I found the information very useful in helping me develop a fundamental understanding and awareness. In addition, with the conclusion of this course I will now be prepared to relate to future content information with my future courses.

ESP 621 was one of my first courses in graduate school. And though I have many other topics to learn in the future, I am confident that having developed a background in assessments at the beginning of my graduate program will greatly help me recognize the significance of ASD assessments, as well as the treatments.

I found the assessment text book by Glasberg to be very useful by the manner in which the topics were presents. This was especially beneficial because of my background. I will definitely recommend this text for my future classes due to its structure and information involving assessments, FBA, how behaviors are learned, as well as why many behaviors occur. In addition, the information I have learned from the ESP 621 class discussion is another reminder of how important communicating with a variety of a team’s members is essential on a daily basis for bother educators and assessors.

The Wiki website concept was such a great idea. I was a little hesitant at first, because I never heard of a Wiki, and was unsure what was involved. Working in groups was also beneficial because we had chances to learn from each other about our experiences in the classroom. This experience helped each of us to easily share our own  material through the Wiki. The Wiki not only helped me contribute to the classroom, but also provided a clearer understanding of an inclusion classroom, especially its importance for younger children.

Overall, ESP 621 was a great class and definitely kept me on my toes! It made me really think and process what I have learned over the semester. And even though there is so much knowledge to remember when discussing assessment, I can now leave this class being confident that I know much more then I originally did. I look forward to using assessment knowledge in my future

Reflection

ESP 621 has completely changed my idea of what assessment is.  Prior to this course when I thought about assessment I thought of standardized tests.  Now I realize that assessment is ongoing.  We never stop assessing the growth that the students we work with.  Assessment of ASD can be difficult.  We need to keep in mind that not every student is the same, and we may need to administer standardized assessments differently for every student (i.e. short durations, reward systems, ect.).  My contribution came from ten years of experience working one-on-one with students both at their homes and within a school setting.  I have a thorough understanding of the family dynamics involved in assessment.  When practicing as a BCBA in the future I will keep these things in mind, as well as everything we learned about Theory of Mind.  I find that a lot of professionals do not have a thorough understanding of the lack of Theory of Mind in individuals with autism, and I hope to be able to teach them about it.  I found both the wiki and the annotated bibliography very helpful in expanding my knowledge as a scholar.  I am now able to think about ASD with an open mind, and I am ready to continue to learn.

Reflections on the semester...

When looking back on this semester, there definitely were some things which I learned throughout the course.  Although I came into this semester with a wide range of experiences from my job, this class helped me to combine those experience ad really take a closer look at all the different assessment tools that I have seen, experienced, and help to implement over the last few years.  The main thing that was stressed in this class I believe was the key component to assessment that I think many people forget, communication.  The fact that we discussed so in depth the importance of communication and the many ways that it can go wrong I think is useful information that everyone can take from this class.  I hope that I contributed lots of insight to the class as a whole and helped others to get as much out of this course as I did throughout the semester.  Have a great summer everyone!

Reflections on ESP 621

This class helped to confirm what I’ve known in my practice as a special education teacher, and that is the fact that assessments are very important and ongoing.  Informal assessments can be conducted daily with the individuals that we work with while formal assessments are used (maybe) yearly.  I think that this class helped to point out the importance of informal assessments; I think informal assessments are very important because a lot of our students do not perform well with the standardized formal assessments due to their disability.  I feel this class gave me a better understanding of concepts such as Theory of Mind, the need for a team approach when conducting an FBA, and co-morbidity.  I enjoyed the wikis; I thought they were a useful way to see how other students in the class were using the information on assessments to apply it to what they know because it is so different from the environment that I work in.   Although I have already finished my ILP, I do feel that the annotated bibliography is a great tool for all those who have not finished.  It is a great start to your literature review for those of you doing a research project related to ABA, as you will use a lot of the information that was summarized in the annotations in your literature review.  Overall, I found this class to be informative and helpful in my professional life as well as in my studies.

Reflection

This class was enjoyable however it did not change my mind about assessments in individuals with ASD, but only because I have had some previous experience with them.  As a new(ish) teacher I had to start from scratch and learn quickly how to utilize the team during an IEP.  It took me a few tries but I feel now I really have a grasp on how to use the assessments that are asked of me.  IEP were especially challenging due to their complex nature and individuality based on the individuals needs.  This class did give me some insight on how other organizations use assessments outside of the education facility I work in.  I was very interesting to hear and see some of the other issues and assessments that others use in their line of work.  I like to think I added a lot to the discussions and blog.  I always like to try to take a light hearted approach to the things I do, adding a funny picture or comment in a constructive way on how to approach an assessment.  I will take the skill I learned from this class and continue to use them in my professional development guiding special needs children in the right direction with the help of a team and parents, I feel having that support structure for the teachers and students adds a level of security for everyone knowing that we are making the best decisions we can for that student.

Reflection

ESP 621 has helped confirm what I already knew and applied in my practice everyday.  The great part about this class is I now have peer journal reviews, books, and knowledge from the professor to back up my beliefs in formal and informal assessments.  The hardest part is trying to convince others that informal assessments are just as valuable as formal assessments of children on the spectrum.  I believe that the wiki projects will be very helpful and a great resource to have my colleagues go to and use.  In addition to having my colleagues look at the wikis I feel that I could have my students create wikis in our classes.  This is a project I think my students could do on a specific topic or even to have them reflect on how they deal and cope with their disability.  I think that the annotated bibliography is a good skill to know how to do.  Unfortunately I have already finished my ILP but this is something I did prior to writing my ILP.  One of the most valuable topics I found was the topic of co-morbid disabilities.  One of my students this year is labeled as Emotionally Disturbed and I feel, after taking this course, that he is more of a student on the spectrum and have ED as a secondary diagnosis.  His ED is due to the lack of communication skills.  We are working on a better placement for him for as he transitions to the high school next year.   I learned a lot from this course and will apply it as I take the national exam for my BCBA as well.  Assessment is essential, but what is most important is being able to apply the results appropriately to minimize testing and maximize learning.  

Reflection: How have you grown this semester?

How has ESP 621  changed your ideas about assessment in general and assessment of ASD in particular? Everyone in the class contributed something unique to the discussion; what was your contribution? What will you bring to your professional practice  from the course? How has your experience it helped you grow as a scholar?

Theory of mind- A teachable skill

Dr. Firth views theory of mind as a concept that can be taught this is incredibly important in that it takes theory of mind as a hypothetical construct that is just something we imagine going on and makes it an observable behavior that can be acquired.  It makes it a little more user friendly in a way, something those of us who actually have a concept of theory of mind, can not be daunted by teaching it.
Dr. Firth breaks the development of theory of mind into four developmental stages.  The first is recognizing mental states of others, then communicating them to others, manipulating them in others, and reflecting on mental states.  This almost seems like a program guide when written out like this.  We teach children to recognize emotions (mommy is crying she must be sad), communicate them ("Why are you sad?), manipulate emotions (if mommy is sad give her a hug to make her feel better), and reflect on emotions (Mommy was sad because her friend got hurt, I gave her a hug and she felt better).  However I have never thought of any of this as teaching theory of mind.  I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Firth's lecture and take away from it what I have long believed to be true anyway.  Anything can be taught it is just extremely important that we find the teaching technique that works before giving up on it.

Autism and Theory of Mind

This was another interesting video on the theory of mind and how it affects children with autism.  Children with autism have difficulties in cognitive, behavioral and social areas and the social areas are becoming more and more seen with children.  Social reciprocity is an important part for children to learn because it has such a big impact on peoples’ lives and understandings of the environments around them.  Uta Frith does point out that the theory of mind is not a real theory because of difficulty in investigating the concept.  There are many concepts that might be hard to teach a child with autism when relating to social communication, but the video points out that there are many concepts that have the ability to be taught to children.

It was interesting that she went over the differences by developmental milestones between children with autism and typically developing peers and how they may be different in the development of mental states and social behavior.  After watching the video, I was able to see the observable aspects of the mental states that children with autism are usually lacking and I can see measuring and observing it as a behavior as well.  She brought up many good and interesting points that made me think about the theory of mind in different ways.  The images of the brain in children with autism and typically developing brains were quite interesting in the differences in relation to the mental states. 

A social interaction among children with autism is a much needed area to function in the environment and more research needs to be done on how we might need to help these children.  I think, along with assessments also need to look at what the child does and how they may interpret social cues and integrate that into their services and plans through the schools.  The theory of mind, I think, should be explained and made known within the public to help these children succeed. 

Theory of Mind 2

According to the presenter, “theory” of the mind is not a theory, but an automatic ability to attribute mental states to ones self and others to predict and explain behavior. Uta Frith described “theory” of mind as a social behavior that can be observed and taught. This ability to mentalize (TOM) can be seen in human socialization:

·       Recognizing mental states of others

·       Communicating them to others

·       Manipulate them in others

·       Reflect on mental states

Firth discussed the developmental stages of “theory” of mind (prerequisites of mentalizing, joint attention, implicit mentalizing and explicit mentalizing) and how deficits in these areas by the age of 18 months puts a child at a higher risk of Autism. When we first discussed Theory of mind I was a bit skeptical at first because as behaviorist we are taught to observe, measure and manipulate behavior based off of things we actually see within the environment. Anything considered “mental” like “thoughts” or “feelings” are not considered behavior because they cannot be seen. I feel like Firth was able to describe the attributes of “theory” of mind in a way that it could be observed and measured like a behavior. For example she described joint attention as a developmental step of mentalizing, many of the children I work with have joint attention as a program along with teaching various play skills and social scripts. The presenter was able to present “theory” of mind in a way that could be understood from a behavioral standpoint. 

Theory of Mind

Uta Frith gave a very interesting and in-depth talk about Theory of Mind and how it relates to autism.  She got me thinking of areas of theory of mind that I have never thought of before.  She asked and answered several questions.  Some of these questions were:  “Why do we need Theory of Mind?, What consequences does theory of mind failure have?,  and How does it explain social impairment in autism?”  I think that these questions are very important to consider when working with a child or an adult with autism.  I believe that all professionals must consider the lack of theory of mind when working with people with autism. 

Social impairments seem to be directly linked to a lack of theory of mind.  People with autism lack the ability to interpret mental states to themselves as well as others.  This lack of understanding will have a serious impact on the ability to socialize with others, and understand the world in general.  If you can’t understand how you feel, it would be impossible to understand how others may feel about anything, especially when it comes to understanding how your actions may affect someone else.

A lack of theory of mind is a critical aspect of the explanation of the social behavior of individuals with autism.  What may appear to be a lack of empathy may in fact be a lack of understanding feeling altogether.  As professionals we should make more of an effort to educate the public about theory of mind.  I feel that if people had a better understanding of the way a person with autism’s brain works, the more room there will be for compassion and patience when working with individuals with autism.  I feel that we all need a better understanding of theory of mind.

Theory of Mind Revisited

Uta Frith gave an interesting and informative presentation on Theory of Mind.  In the beginning of her presentation she listed six questions that were answered throughout her presentation that I found interesting, and a few of them are listed below:

          Why do we need theory of mind?
We need Theory of Mind to teach others; tease others; trade with others; deceive others; communicate ostensively;  show complex emotions; manipulating beliefs; reading other minds; reading own mind; being self-conscious; showing unique emotions.

What consequences does ToM failure have?

Theory of mind failure may indicate that a child is at risk for autism (failure to show joint attention, proto-declarative pointing, pretend play).

How does it explain social Impairment in autism?

With regards to individuals with autism, “explicit mentalizing” can be taught, but “intuitive mentalizing” cannot.  This means that you can teach someone to come to a conclusion regarding the feelings of others but the automaticity of reaching said conclusions cannot. 

Is it sufficient to explain social impairment in autism?

While it helps to explain a lot of the social issues in individuals with autism, I don’t think this accounts for all of the social skill deficits in individuals with autism.

Is it unique and/or universal to autism spectrum?

The way she was speaking in the video makes me think that there is a lack of Theory of Mind in other individuals, so I do not think it is unique to autism spectrum disorders. 

In conclusion, Theory of mind is demonstrated in the ability to

·         Recognize mental states in others

      ·         Communicate them to others

·         Manipulate them in others

·         Reflect on own mental states

I strongly feel that Theory of Mind is important to consider when conducting an assessment on an individual with ASD.  You need to be aware of all of the individuals strengths and weaknesses in order to build skills that are adaptive to help with their future.

Theory of Mind

After watching the presentation by Uta Frith, there is more detail involved with Theory of Mind then I originally thought. Uta Frith explains the challenges that are faced by ASD individuals who may not understand the concept of “mentalizing”. I believe there is a strong connection in understanding theory of mind and the impairments of social communication in ASD individuals. If a child does not understand why an individual is sad, joyful, or angry, then they are going to have difficulty expressing their own emotions or feelings.

For example, I remember a child I worked with would cry every time she saw another child cry or show any emotions of being upset. You can just imagine working in an early childhood center, how many times toddlers and preschoolers cry throughout the day! This was very challenging for me as a teacher, because I did not have the background knowledge on ASD and what the concept of Theory of Mind was. Now with the knowledge I have learned in class, I have a better perspective on why emotions from other children were upsetting for her.

 
 I did not know until watching the video that Theory of Mind can actually be taught and learned. This can explain why some people try to debunk the Theory of Mind idea. However, we have to remember, just because children can learn what Theory of Mind is, does not necessary mean they understand it. With that being said, this can clarify why some ASD individuals may pass Theory of Mind tests.

I also found it very helpful when Uta Frith discussed different false belief tests. One example she used was sabotage and deception. From my understanding of the example she used, when a typical child is placed in a situation where he/she needs to deceive someone in order to gain or protect something ( such as the candy example), the child can recognize the situation and make a decision. On the other hand, a child with ASD does not have the state of mind to make the distinction between using deception and the actual reality of the situation. This is just one example how theory of mind can impact a child’s development.

We already know a common trait of autistic individuals is having difficulty interpreting the emotions of others, but this is also true when expressing their own emotions. This is vital to consider when giving an assessment because one can explain why an individual may have difficulty in a certain area. I strongly believe Theory of Mind is important to consider when making an assessment, however it is not the only thing educators should rely on. Being aware of the child’s challenges and finding the right skills and tools to strengthen the child’s needs are essential for his/her future.

Revisiting theory of mind

In this presentation, Uta Frith gave a much more in-depth description of the theory of mind.  She gave examples of various stages of life in which one could assess an individual for theory of mind.  This including identifying joint attention during infancy, a school-age child's understanding of "sabotage" and "deception", and she also used the example of a person's ability to attribute agencies to animated shapes, which I found very interesting.

She described many characteristics that are both consistent with autism as well as being consistent with a lack of a "theory of mind".  These characteristics include in inability or difficulty in articulated one's own thoughts or emotions, deficient pretend-play skills, and delays in joint attention.  As Frith discussed, many of these skills can be taught.  That is, "explicit mentalizing" can be taught.  "Intuitive mentalizing" cannot be taught.  In other words, compensationary methods can be learned in order to come to the appropriate conclusions regarding the thoughts and feelings of others.  But the automaticity of reaching those conclusions cannot be taught. 

The results of the various experiments discussed by Frith does seem to show evidence that there is a lack of awareness of the consciousness of other individuals.  As I mentioned earlier, characteristics that are consistent with lacking a "theory of mind" are also consistent with having Autism.  In that event, I do think it's appropriate to assess individuals in order to determine if they have the characteristics that are typical of "having a theory of mind"- should it be defined that way.  However, for those who are determined not to have a theory of mind, it's inconclusive has to how to correct it.  While one can learn "explicit mentalizing via compensation", it's unclear if these individuals will really understand what it is they're supposed to understand.  In other words, an individual can observe the narrative situation in which one character leaves a room and the other character hides that character's ball in a basket, the individual observing this narrative could be asked where the character who had left the room thinks the ball is and can be trained to give the correct answer.  But are they giving the correct response by rote or do they truly understand why that is the correct answer?

Revisiting Theory of Mind

I found this video and much of what we have learned in this class to be interesting and thought provoking, but my original viewpoint on theory of mind remains the same. 

Ute Frith discusses in this video that theory of mind is not a theory at all, but an automatic ability to attribute mental states.  That being said, it is risky to presume that anything occurs “automatically.”  Virtually everything we do is learned.  Take eating for example.  Food is a primary reinforcer, meaning that it functions as a reinforcer without any prior pairing.  This being said when a baby is born, he/she still needs to learn to eat, and some learn to eat more quickly than others.  What maintains this behavior in the future is its consequence (reinforcer), food.  This is the case with every behavior humans (and other organisms) engage in; everything we do is a result of our learning history of reinforcement.

Ute Frith also discusses in this video the differences between human behavior and the behavior of other animals.  These differences in behavior are not a result of different brain make-ups, so to speak, but again they are the result of different histories of reinforcement which likely come down to the one key difference between humans and other animals – a complex form of communication.  It is also likely that this is the key difference between individuals with autism and typically developing individuals.  As discussed in the video some of the “hallmarks” of autism are poor emotion processing, face processing, eye gaze control, imitation, use of gesture and language, and recognition of thoughts and feelings.  Ute Frith suggests that a lack of theory of mind might explain these deficits, but it may be more parsimonious to suggest that these deficits are due to individual histories of reinforcement, which would explain why there are differing levels of deficiencies in different individuals with autism, and also why these skills can be taught.

In assessing individuals with autism, I still think it is very important to look only at individual skills and then to teach and reinforce those found to be acquisition deficits.  Some of these skills, such as identifying internal emotions and/or the emotions of others can be very difficult to teach, but they can be taught provided the child has the prerequisite skills necessary to acquire them.  This is one of the reasons appropriate assessment is so important, by looking at an ABLLs assessment, for example, I can determine if the child can select pictures depicting emotions, attend to the reactions of others and whether he or she has the language ability to support identifying the emotion of a peer.  By teaching and reinforcing each skill individually a practitioner can further develop the necessary prerequisites for higher level social skills.

On a quest to find a behavioral explanation for theory of mind earlier in the semester I came across this article by Yvonne Barnes-Holmes, Louise McHugh, & Dermot Barnes-Holmes (2004) from The Behavior Analyst Today:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6884/is_1_5/ai_n28246892/

One thing that I liked about this article is that it breaks down Theory of Mind into 5 levels:

1.       People can see different things.

2.       People can see the same things differently.

3.       Seeing leads to knowing.

4.       Actions can be predicted on the basis of knowledge.

5.       People can have false beliefs.

Now, although the terms “knowledge” and “beliefs” are hypothetical constructs that are just as mentalistic as a theory of mind and many behavior analysts may get hung up on these constructs, by objectively defining them in context, behavior analytic literature may one day get us closer to developing an assessment that can be appropriately used in measuring progress and developing appropriate programming to teach individuals with autism to effectively take the perspective of another individual.

Theory of Mind revisted

In this video i really enjoyed the way Uta Frith starts off by kinda defining what Theory of Mind is.  That it really is not a theory because theory would mean that it can be measured and tested over and over again.  I believe she suggested that theory of mind is more of a social behavior and that the title should be “Theory” of mind.  Because of this way of thinking, that it is just a social behavior, it can be theorized that it can be taught to an individual with ASD.  Many people with ASD are taught scripts on how to interact with others and deal with emotions and other internal behavior.

When it comes to assessment and theory of mind it can be very difficult due to the ability of the individual and their lack of being able to communicate properly.  As said in the video individuals can say that they ‘do not know’ just because they lack either the verbal capacity to state how they feel or maybe even the vocabulary in which to properly label what is going on emotionally.  This can be particularly difficult with students who are non verbal and rely on a device output device or other means of communication to express their needs or feelings. 

In my classroom I have multiple students who are working on just identifying emotions of others.  The hope for them is to be able to identify the basic concept and form of the facial expression of the emotion.  This will be a base of the skill and hopefully the students will be able to generalize it to other in the future.  The real difficult part of this skill is trying to relay the identification of these emotions back on to themselves when they are going through these emotions.  It can be easy to ID the emotions but to vocalize what you are feeling can be difficult but hopefully by building a vocabulary and identification of facial features we will be able to give my students an advantage and ability to communicate how they feel on any given day.

Uta Frith offered very in depth research on the subject of Theory of Mind.  Theory of Mind, as we have all learned, is the ability to attribute mental states to others.  These attitudes must mark who has the mental states and what sort of attitude they have.  This is something we often look at when assessing children with Autism as they typically cannot attribute mental states to others; they all have impairments in social communication which encompasses the idea of Theory of Mind.

Uta Frith provided many points that I had not previously thought of.  Not only do individuals with Autism have difficulty recognizing mental states of others, but they have difficulty identifying them within themselves.  Many children with Autism are egocentric meaning they have a great deal of difficulty putting themselves in others' shoes and taking into account what others think or feel.  They also do not reflect on their own intentions as much as typically developing children.  Obviously, if they are stuck on making sense of their own thoughts, intentions, and feelings, they will find it challenging to do so in others and this understandably may not take priority.  I also particularly enjoyed the video Uta Frith showed with the triangles.  This helped me to realize how automatic it is for typically developing individuals to attribute mental states to others and allowed me to attempt to take the perspective of a child with Autism.  Theory of mind is something that can be learned, however.  It was shared that children with Autism don't necessarily fail to mentalize, they simply do not do so at the appropriate age.  In this particular study, there was about a five year delay in developing the skills necessary to have Theory of Mind.

While Theory of Mind cannot specifically be measured, I still believe it should be taken into consideration while performing assessments and looking at assessment results of those with Autism.  During assessments, recognizing that these children have not yet developed Theory of Mind may provide an explanation as to why they are having trouble in certain areas.  Also, now that we know Theory of Mind is something that can be acquired over the years, it is crucial to look at the prerequisite skills to developing Theory of Mind, if they are there, and what we can do to foster the development of such skills.

Autism and the Brain's Theory of Mind

The video was more in-depth then the first one I watched.  It gave more information and really explained the logical aspect behind “Theory of Mind”.  From the start Uta Frith let the audience know Theory of mind is not a theory at all and it cannot be measure.  Children on the spectrum have difficulty describing their feeling which can frustrate people who might not have the proper knowledge about ASD children state of mind. According to Frith “self awareness requires ability to think about own mental states, ability to think about own feelings requires self awareness and self- awareness requires mentalizing ability”.  From my experience many of the children I work with do not have self awareness.  For example one of my students go to inclusion class for 2 hours in the morning and he is high function and has language as well.  He would have a tantrum while the other kids are looking at him.  I try to remind him we are in big kid’s classroom and they are not crying and they use their words to ask for help.   This prove to me that he is not aware that the other children are not crying and they are looking at him when he acts a certain way.  I am constantly presenting him with visual cues to help gather his though and ask for help appropriately. Many of kids learn all they have to do is cry then they will get someone to attend to their need.  I am trying to teach him he has words he needs to use them to communicate his needs.  I reinforce good behaviors and ignore the bad one. 

Frith revisited the theory of Sally and Anne. Sally put the marble in her basket and then went to the bathroom.  Anne took the opportunity to move the marble in the box while Sally was gone.  Since she left it in the basket she did not have the mental ability to look elsewhere. She only has her believe and does not recognize mental states in others.  A typical child would have look in the box even though he or she did not put in there.  Children on the spectrum are not able to think outside the box.  This skill has to be thought to the child over a period of time for her to begin understanding the concept. 

When assessing children with ASD the assessor must keep in mind the child state of mind. Many times a child might reply I don’t know when ask a question is because he is not able to think about his emotional feeling.  For example I had a kid last week who was crying and bolting from the classroom for most of the day. He told me he was sad. I asked why he was sad and he replied I do not know.  He honesty did not know because he may had so many emotion at once and he was not able to pinpoint the real reason he was sad.  I was playing the guessing game with my colleague and we had a few theories why he was crying. He started a new medication about a month ago and he looked extremely tired which mean he might not had enough sleep the night before.  Since he was not able to give us a reason we could not know for sure what cause his sadness.  If mom had sent us a note that day we would not have to play the guessing game and we could have approach his day differently. ASD children have difficulty communicate their feeling to others.  Teachers are constantly working on that skill because we need them to have a voice and tell others what they might be feeling.

Theory of Mind revisited

This video was very interesting.  One thing that I have learned this year is the three core characteristics of ASD are lack of social reciprocity, communication deficits, and restricted interests.  The three aspects of social reciprocity include being able to use and understand nonverbal behaviors, the ability to develop peer relationships, and ability to have a spontaneous desire to share feelings and information with others.  These are all deficits that some people with ASD have.  All of these things are not included in the Theory of Mind concept.  Uta Frith starts right at the beginning stating how this theory of mind is not really a theory and that one will find it in quotations when being referred to.  In order for something to be a theory is needs to be a proposed explanation that is subjected to experimentation and tested over and over again.  The theory of mind cannot be tested, it is more of a social behavior.  In addition, it was interesting that she adds that the concept of theory of mind is something that can be learned through compensation.  Meaning that social reciprocity can be learned.

I have to go against my original blog entry at the beginning of the semester and say that from a behavioral standpoint nothing about this theory can be measured.  This theory of mind would not be something I would consider when assessing a child with autism.  We know from other assessments that it is difficult for people with ASD to reflect on their own emotions due to many reasons but inparticular they sometimes lack the communication piece.  It is difficult for someone with ASD to communicate.  With that being said, is it due to their primary disability of not being able to communicate that they cannot understand their behavior or behaviors of others.  I would like to use assessments (both formal and informal) to be able to make that decision.  It is important to use assessment to figure out what is at the root of the disability for people with ASD and teach them those skills to be applied to other higher order skills.

One of my students has a very difficult time identifying his internal feelings and emotions.  He will have certain behavior and when discussing with him why he did what he did he will verbalize "I don't know".  Now to teachers, in our school, that do not have experience dealing with students on the spectrum, they cannot take that answer.  To the staff in my classroom, we are able to accept that answer.  He really does not know because he is not able to identify and communicate his internal feelings and emotions.  Part of our job is to give him skills, pictures, words to use to help communicate his feelings and emotions.  We are not going to go to the theory of mind and say his skills are not present so he doesn't have them.  We need to give him a way to be able to communicate.  Everything I do with students through assessment needs to be measurable and observable.  The theory of mind is neither, so I won't be using that in the future.

Theory of Mind revisited

Upon viewing this video, I realized that there was so much more to consider than was previously presented to us in class in terms of theory of mind.  The original video which we watched was very brief and did not do justice to the incites which Uta Frith has been able to provide to so many people through her research over the years.  The depth in which she covers this topic this time around has provided many more things to consider.  Now while originally we only discussed how the theory of mind or "mentalizing" effects the students abilities to see things from another persons point of view, we now must take into consideration how this lack of mentalizing skills actually effects how the person views there own internal states and intentions.  I found it very interesting how this research was applied to how a person with ASD has difficulty identifying their own internal states.  I know that from my experience, which I am sure many of you share as well, that I have seen many children who have some very troubling problem behaviors because of internal states which they cannot make known to others.  This inability to express these internal states and emotions can make it very difficult for providers to take care of the students needs and can often turn it into a guessing game.  With that being said, I know that while we stress teaching these children new skills to help make up for these for these deficits, I have found in many settings with children of all different ages and abilities, that it is VERY difficult to teach such a set of skills.  These extreme difficulty that educators and clinicians have been running into I believe helps to support Uta Frith's claim that there is indeed some differences in the hard wiring of those on the spectrum.  This difference in wiring has been demonstrated in other studies as well.  One such demonstration of these drastic differences, though it has to do with language rather than mentalizing, can be found in this excerpt from 60 min:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_8b7PgnNQQ

(The clip starts at about 9 and a half minutes in, though you all may find the portion on the iPad apps for autism prior to it very interesting as well).

The visual representation in this clip, I think, helps to show just how different, not bad just different, people with autism are wired than a neurotypical individual.  I would be really curious to see further imaging studies regarding other areas of deficit, such as mentalizing, on people with autism in the future.

Now in regards to how all of these things affect assessment, I think that this video stressed just how important it is to take into consideration these differences when performing assessments with any one with developmental impairments and especially those with autism.  These differences in how a person processes information and how they view the world as a hold should help us in better developing the tools we use for the assessments.  I am a firm believer that all of these children have so much potential and am astounded by the random bits of knowledge that they have acquired over the years.  I believe that many of our assessment tools, while effective in picking up on many deficits, also fail to identify many of the strengths that they do possess which could help us develop effective plans for their futures.  I believe that if some tools were created that took the point of view of the autistic individual we may be able to better understand how it is that they learn best and what tools would help them the most in the future.  After all, it is our goal as educators and providers to promote learning in each of our students and play upon their strengths to build up their weaknesses so that they can be as best prepared for whatever future lies ahead as possible.